


Not a Dork

by Northern_Lady



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Barb is Alive, Billy is Alive, F/M, Romance, stuck in the upside down
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 06:05:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19824082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northern_Lady/pseuds/Northern_Lady
Summary: Barb is still alive in the upside down and Billy finds himself stuck there.





	Not a Dork

The upsidedown was an unending nightmare. Barb didn’t know how long she had been trapped in this place alone but she was almost sure it had been years. She had very nearly died countless times. Everyone back home probably thought she was dead by now. She almost wished she were. She had learned by now how to find food and places to hide and when to run but it was still a terrifying miserable place to be trapped. 

Barb had no concept of what time of day it might be when she heard the screams. Day and night had blended together for so long that she couldn’t be sure of anything. She went towards the sound anyways. If someone else were trapped in this place she had to help them. More than that, she had to find their entry point. Maybe however they got in could be a way to get out. 

Barb pushed her way through the dense trees carrying the pointed stick she had made long ago as a weapon. Ahead she saw him, a young man with blond curly hair, screaming and struggling with one of the creatures that lived in the place. The creature didn’t see her. Barb charged at it, knowing by now the vital place to stab and end the fight. 

The man ended his screams as the creature’s life came to an end. 

“Who- who are you? And what the hell is this place?” He said, breathless on the ground. 

“I’m Barb. And you’re welcome,” she said, irritated with pretty boy’s lack of thankfulness. Then she reached down to help him up anyway. 

“Billy Hargrove. I don’t get it. I was in the mall and there was a big fight. I thought for sure I would be dead and now…now I’m here…” 

“Yeah I thought I drowned but then I ended up here. Nothing about this place makes any sense. You get used to it.” 

“Used to it?” Billy asked, but Barb ignored him and began searching the nearby area for wherever he might have entered this world. “What are you doing?” He asked, seeing her frantic search. 

“Trying to see how you got here. It had to be the way out!” 

“It’s not,” Billy said with a shake of his head. 

“You don’t know that.” 

“Uh, yeah I’m pretty sure that…” 

“You can’t know that!” Barb shouted at him, not willing to give up so easily. 

“I came here inside of one of those creatures. It spit me out in here somehow and I think they killed it on the other side. It’s gone. We can’t get out that way.” 

“No…” Barb started digging a hole at a random opening in the soil. “No..there has to be...there has to be a way…” 

“How long have you been stuck here?” Billy asked her. 

“There has to be a way…” she felt her last thread of hope beginning to break and rather than accept it she dug deeper, harder. 

“Barb,” Billy said gently. “You’re not gonna dig your way out through a hole in the ground.” 

“Yes I can!” She screamed back at him, unaware of the tears on her face or the dirt on her clothes. She felt Billy’s arms picking her up off the ground and tried feebly to push him away. He stumbled a little at her shove and ended up sitting on the ground next to her. 

“Barb?” He reaches for her again to get her to stop digging a useless hole in the ground and this time she gave up and let him pull her away from her futile project. He pulled her into a hug. 

It had been so long since she’d had any contact with another human being that even this hug from a stranger was a welcome comfort. She was not aware of how long she stayed hugging her new companion or crying either until she heard his stomach growling. 

“There’s not a lot of appealing food here,” she told him, pulling away. “I’ll show what there is anyway. Where did you come from anyway? From Hawkins?” 

For the next couple of hours Barb showed Billy how and where to find food and he caught her up on the news from Hawkins. 

“So Nancy broke it off with Steve Harrington and is with Jonathan Byers now?” Barb asked him as roasted another small fish over her fire. 

“Yeah, I guess.” 

“I can’t believe she broke up with Steve. She tried so hard to get his attention in the first place and then she dumped him?” 

Billy shrugged. “I never liked Steve anyways. Jonathan is probably better for your friend.” 

“Why didn’t you like him?” 

Billy hesitated to answer. “The last couple of years I haven’t exactly been a nice guy. Just after so moved here Steve and I got in a fight over something stupid and we’ve never been friends.” 

“Was it over a girl?” Barb asked, curious. Pretty boy guys always fought over girls. 

“Not exactly. I guess it was more like a popularity contest and he was winning and I let it get to me.” 

Barb shook her head. “I wouldn’t know anything about that. I was never popular.” 

Billy gave her a look. “Seriously?” 

“Yeah seriously. I lost my glasses months ago somewhere and my hair used to be like six inches shorter and my clothes weren’t always so big either. Basically I was a fat dork.” 

“I doubt that. I mean you survived here all this time. You make fires and catch fish and built a shelter. Seems like you’re alright to me,” Billy commented. 

“Thanks I guess,” Barb said. 

As the hour grew later Barb grew tired but also grew more aware of how dirty she truly was. There was a stream that she sometimes washed her clothes in but she had been alone then and hadn’t needed something else to wear while she waited for her clothes to dry. Well, she supposed she’d just have to was her clothes while she wore them and keep them on until they dried. 

“I’m gonna go get cleaned up,” Barb said, getting to her feet. 

“You’re just gonna leave me here?” Billy said. 

“Why are you scared?” She asked, and then wished she hadn’t. “Look, it will be fine. I will be like ten minutes, fifteen tops.” 

Barb hurried to the nearby screen. She had been there earlier with Billy and washed the dirt off her hands but the dirt on her clothes remained. The water was cold as she walked all the way out into the current. It was far too cold to be immersed in this water but Barb did it anyways, just wanting to be free of the sweat and grime for a little while. She didn’t stay in the water for long. She made her way back to the fire drenching wet and shivering and sat down on the ground next to Billy. 

“It’s cold. You’re gonna freeze like that,” Billy commented. 

“If that line is supposed to get me to take off my clothes it’s not gonna work,” Barb said annoyed. 

Billy looked a little confused. “That wasn’t why I said it but...it would have worked on other girls. What makes you so different?” 

“I told you, I was a fat dork before. Guys didn’t notice me and I learned not to need them to notice.” 

Billy shook his head. “I don’t believe that for a moment. I’ve already seen the way you look at me when you think I’m not looking. You wouldn’t mind if I noticed.” 

“I’ve been alone for two years. At this point I’d probably look at a golden retriever. I think it’s a little unfair of you to try and take advantage of my loneliness.” 

“You might have a point but I wouldn’t be trying to do it if you really were a dork, would I?” He said with a grin. 

Barb leaned a little away from him, unable to believe any of this was even happening. “Are you for real?” 

“What?” 

“I mean, maybe I have been stuck in here for so long that I have finally lost it. You cannot be real.” 

Billy reached over and touched her cheek. “I am real.” 

Barb just stared at him in confusion and then she pulled away from his touch. “I’m still hungry. I’m gonna get a couple more fish.” 

***

Billy didn’t understand why it wasn’t working. Usually it was easier than this for him to win girls over. Barb wasn’t his usual type but she was pretty in her own way and he needed her help to survive this place. The easiest way to be sure of her loyalty was to sleep with her. He could tell she did feel some attraction to him but for some reason she was resisting his charms. 

It was nearly an hour later when Billy heard the sound of Barb returning to the fire. “I wondered when you’d be back.” He turned to her and found not Barb but another of the small creatures without faces and it took a dive at him. 

The demagorgon got hold of Billy’s shoulder before Barb appeared with her sharpened stick. He saw her swing the stick before everything went dark. 

Billy awoke sometime later to Barb tending his shoulder near the fire. “How long have I been out?” He groaned. 

“Almost two days,” she told him. 

He looked around and saw three more dead creatures near the fire. 

“They always hunt in packs,” she explained. “You had a fever and you’re too heavy for me to move so I made a stand here.” 

“Then...thanks…” He said, making an effort to sit up. “Where is that stream you washed in before?” 

“I’ll show you.” Barb helped Billy to his feet. He kept an arm draped around her shoulders as they made the short walk to the stream. She helped him lower himself to sit in the shallow water. 

“The water just got warm. Did you just…?” She trailed off, a look of disgust on her face. 

“Couldn’t help it,” he said weakly. 

“I guess you probably couldn’t,” Barb conceded. 

The cool water was helping the the fever he felt within and it was washing away the grime from the past couple of days. Barb watched him with concern and Billy realized in that moment that this woman was basically his hero. She had saved his life twice, had brought him food, helped him survive, fought of the creatures that would have killed him while he was unconscious, and somehow still thought that she was a dork. She wasn’t a dork. She was an amazing woman who severely underestimated herself. From this moment forward he was gonna do everything he could to get her out of here. 

*** 

It took almost two weeks for Billy to truly recover from the injuries he arrived with and from the bite to his shoulder. Barb had to help him a lot during that time. He was in too much pain to do simple things like put in his jean jacket or be of any help with gathering firewood or hunting. She did al the work without complaining. 

Then one evening while Barb went fish Billy was feeling well enough to actually help. He made his way into the woods and started break off low hanging branches for firewood. By the time he returned to the fire Barb was already there. He dropped the wood on the ground, exhausted. 

“That’s…” she reached over and picked up a thick branch he had brought with the pile. “That’s a lot better wood than what I’ve been getting.” 

He allowed himself a smile at having finally gained her admiration for once. “Now that I’m feeling up to helping, I’ll get the firewood from now on.” 

“So you’ll get the firewood and I’ll do the woman’s work like cook the food and wash the clothes?” 

“That’s not what I said,” Billy argued. “But the fact is, I am stronger than you. It makes sense for me me to get the firewood.” 

“And I suppose it makes sense for me to do the cooking too?” 

Billy glared at her. “You know my shoulder is still hurting and it wasn’t easy to get that wood? I was only trying to help. You could just say thanks.” 

Barb looked a little ashamed of herself. “Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome.” He said, trying not to let it bother him that his entire effort to impress her had gone so poorly. 

He sat down near her at the fireside, weary from the exertion. Barb seemed to realize he was sad and she reached over and took his hand. 

“What’s wrong?” She asked him. 

“Nothing,” he shook his head. There was no way he was going to tell her how down it was making him that he couldn’t seem to win her over. 

“Billy, I am sorry about the firewood. I should have realized you were just trying to help.” 

“Why would you think I wasn’t?” 

“I didn’t… not really. I mean, I knew you were probably trying to impress me and… it was easier to argue with you about it than to just accept it.” 

Billy regarded her with confusion. “I’m not sure that makes any sense.” 

“It does because if we ever get out of here, I won’t be Barb the wilderness woman. I will be back to being a dork and you’ll be back to having any girl you want. So it’s better if…” 

Billy didn’t let her finish that thought. He leaned over and kissed her. She accepted the kiss and kissed him in return. When he pulled away from her there were tears on her face. 

“Why did you have to do that?” She whispered. 

“We night never get out of here Barb. Why should we be miserable just because we’re stuck here?” 

She thought over his words, eyes on the fire, before finally turning back to him with a reply. “Maybe you’re right.” 

“Then are you gonna let me kiss you again?” Billy asked her. 

“Yeah,” she agreed. And he did


End file.
